It's finally happened, a month has gone by without a mix, believe me I tried, but as with last January there is a real shortage of quality out there. So the first mix of the 2011 is February. It's also a very different flow to most mixes, starting off deep and minimal and then mellowing out into more soulful vocal house without increasing the intensity too much towards the end. Kind of like a vegetarian C2E mix, tasty but without the usual serving of meat. Fortunately there were still some good tracks available as you'll hear. We start things off with a deep mellow gem "Every Cow Has A Bird". The mix has a real deep "start of the night" feel to it for the first few tracks. We stay deep with Aki Bergens mix of "Downtown" before a serving of Maya Jane Coles sandwich, "Breath" and "Humming Bird" with a side of "Keep On" by The Soulshapes. The mix then changes direction and heads down a more deep n soulful path and what better way to transition than with Atjazz who starts 2011 in the form he showed during 2010. "Selfish Skies" has been soothing my ears for a few weeks now. The vocals keeps coming and take on a distinctly NY sound for the the next few tracks with "Living", "You. Me. World", "All Night" and "Times Of Change". The next track just missed out on being in the Dec 2010 mix "Never Saw You Coming" is a timeless masterpiece of a mix by Spinna of a Black Coffe track, pretty potent combination. We have our only blast from the past next "Closer" by Mood II Swing, a track that epitomises the bar sound of the mid 90's. The next track "Cool Breeze" shows the damage that can be done with an organ riff if you know what your doing, Marlon D nails this one. Henrik Schwarz let rip with his mix of "Kuar", another track that could have been in Dec 2010. The mix takes a funky turn with the next track. "In The City" has a great hook with a couple of cheeky samples in there too. We end with the very laidback "It's Hot In Africa" by The Rurals. This year seems to have got off to the same slow start as 2010, hopefully it will go on to produce the same kind of quality we heard last year as the year progresses.
Tracklisting:
1) Guti & Dubshape - Every Cow Has A Bird
2) Tim Rogers & Joel Armstrong - Downtown (Aki Bergen vs Neuroxyde)
3) Mayan Jane Coles - Breathe
4) The Soulshapes - Keep On (Main Mix)
5) Mayan Jane Coles - Humming Bird
6) Warm Days ft Swindle & Natalie Maddix - Selfish Skies (Atjazz Mix)
7) Jon Cutler ft Pete Simpson - Living (83 West Mix)
8) Monique Bingham - You. Me. World (Jon Cutler's Distant Music Mix)
9) Temple Movement pres. Queen Aminah - All Night (Main Mix)
10) Hosanna Littlebird - Times Of Change (Temple Movement Club Mix)
11) Black Coffee ft Tsepo - Never Saw You Coming (DJ Spinna Galactic Soul Mix)
12) Mood II Swing - Closer (King St Moody Club)
13) Marlon D - Cool Breeze (German Mix)
14) Emmanuel Jal - Kuar (Henrik Shwarz Remix)
15) Andre Crom & Martin Dawson - In The City
16) The Rurals ft Magic Soul - It's Hot In Africa (Andy Comptons Peng Mix)
Enjoy!

It's finally happened, a month has gone by without a mix, believe me I tried, but as with last January there is a real shortage of quality out there. So the first mix of the 2011 is February. It's also a very different flow to most mixes, starting off deep and minimal and then mellowing out into more soulful vocal house without increasing the intensity too much towards the end. Kind of like...